A few weeks ago my lovely Little Blogger, Mayra asked me “I noticed you have no way to GFC??? How can one follow your blog?” and I kinda feel like a jerk because I never got back to her on her question. However, it did stick out in my brain as a great blog topic and because I can’t seem to think of anything else to wax intellectual about on a Saturday night and I’m still procrastinating about cleaning the bathroom… Here’s your answer, Internet!
In short, there are a lot of different ways to follow blogs on the web. This is the first in what may be a series of posts about different ways to follow other bloggers. It’s a vast and wide topic, so I’m breaking it down.
The Skinny on GFC
In the corner of the blogging universe that I hang out most frequently, Blogger is hands down the most popular blogging platform that I see people use. Among Blogger users, Google Friend Connect (GFC) tends to be the preferred method to follow and be followed. And what’s not to love? It’s handy. You click Follow on a blogger’s GFC widget, and it gets sent to the homepage of Blogger every time that person updates, and there’s a convenient list of who’s following you that’s easy to keep tabs on.
The downside to GFC is that it’s exclusionary. It only works for blogs that are hosted on Blogger… and not all awesome blogs are powered by Blogger. (For example, I’m not!) And chances are, somewhere along the way you’re probably going to find a few other bloggers that have chosen to use something other than Blogger to power their blog. Do you really want to not follow them because they don’t use the same blogging platform as you do? I didn’t think so… That’s a pretty silly reason not to follow someone.
So, now you’re probably thinking…. ARGH! I just invested all this time into following blogs on GFC and I have a whole huge list I follow and I don’t really want to start that list over… but I would like to follow some people who aren’t on Blogger. What do I do now?
Two words for you my friend, Google Reader.
Getting from GFC to Google Reader
It just so happens, that Google Reader and GFC play really nice together (which isn’t too surprising seeing as they’re both Google services). It’s pretty easy to get your Google Reader and GFC all synched up. If you go to Blogger.com and login, you should be seeing something similar to this….
Click where it says “View in Google Reader” and you’re all set… The blogs you follow via GFC are now synched up with Google Reader! I have noticed that sometimes if you follow a new blog with GFC, it doesn’t show up in Google Reader right away, so it’s helpful to click that “View in Google Reader” button the next time you want to go read blogs just to make sure everything’s all cool.
Following a Blog via Google Reader
This is where stuff can get complicated, so bear with me. There really isn’t a fool proof way to get from blog to Google Reader, despite being a pretty popular way to subscribe most blogs don’t include Google Reader specifically as a way to follow. What they generally include is a link to their RSS feed and make the assumption your browser knows what to do with that…. which it might or it might not depending on what you’re using, how it’s configured, whether or not the blog you’re trying to subscribe to is using something like Feedburner, the phase of the moon… so on and so forth.
This is the easy sure fire not to mess it up way to subscribe to a blog in Google Reader.
Copy the address of the site you’d like to follow (for example, http://authenticexperience.org/)
Go to Google Reader.
Click on the button on the top left that says Subscribe.
Paste or type in the address of the blog you want to follow and click add!
Congrats you’re following a blog!
I hope that clears up some mystery behind GFC and Google Reader. Feel free to leave any questions in my comments and I’ll try and address them. Happy following!
Great post. It can definitely be frustrating to figure stuff like this when first joining the blogging world. I use Google Reader exclusively, it’s the simplest way once I think but everything takes some getting used to.
Delightfully Awkward Brittany recently posted..Call for Guest Bloggers
Yup! That’s how I do it. Probably half of the blogs I follow use GFC, which I do subscribe using that option, but I read all my blogs in Google Reader. Very useful tool!! ;D
Jennifer M. recently posted..Budgeting Ideas for Creatives
Great post hun
I’m one of the few who’s on wordpress and still has GFC but it id take me a while to figure it out
faye recently posted..London Fashion Week Highlights – House of Holland S/S13
I offer a ton of different ways to follow my blog – GFC, email, RSS, HelloCotton and Bloglovin’. It gives me hopes that if someone wants to follow my blog there’s a way for them to do it!
Even easier to subscribe to blogs, under your google reader settings, go to “goodies” and you can add the “subscribe” button to your browser’s toolbar so when you run across a blog you like, you just have to hit the “subscribe” and it adds it to google reader!
they also have a handy “next” button in that same section, which when you add to your toolbar and click it will take you to the newest entry ON each blog so commenting is easier since you’re already there (and the bloggers actually get hits since you’re visiting their site).
=]
erin aka eef recently posted..Friday Links 9/14/12
thanks for explaining Google Reader to me! I’ve heard a lot of my friends talk about it, but I myself have never used it- which is so stupid! I think your post is going to change my life
New York Cliche recently posted..Other NYCs: My New Roommate
Hi Nikkiana,
I found you through 20SB and was wondering if you’d be interested in reposting this article as part of 20SB’s Blogging 101 series. I think you share some good advice here that our community could benefit from. We’d be glad to include a headshot and short bio in the post as well. If you’re interested, please shoot me an email. Thanks!
Jenn recently posted..The Early Bird Might Get the Worm, but the Night Owl Gets S’mores